Snake Charmer

Winning the title of Miss Snake Charmer 2015 comes with a few perks not found at other beauty pageants. Along with donning a jeweled tiara, the newly crowned queen wins the honor of skinning a recently beheaded rattlesnake and—if she desires—helping yank out its heart, which will continue to pulsate after the snake is killed.

The fun (and blood and guts) is all part of Sweetwater’s annual Rattlesnake Roundup, planned this year for March 13-15. Founded in the late 1950s, the roundup that now draws around 30,00 visitors—nearly three times the number of residents in the West Texas town—was initially conducted for purely practical purposes. Farmers and ranchers in the area had long complained of rattlesnakes harming their livestock. To rid the fields of at least some of the poisonous creatures, they gathered each spring to round them up. The festival has since turned into a larger affair that’s hosted by the Sweetwater Jaycees and includes a pageant, a carnival, a barbecue cook-off, a gun, knife and coin show, demonstrations with live rattlers and guided hunts. It’s not a weekend made for the snake-wary, but it is possible to spend a day at the roundup without ever getting anywhere near a rattlesnake.

For those who do want to get acquainted with the slithering creatures, step inside the Nolan County Coliseum. Handlers show off snakes and a milking pit gives visitors a front-row seat to the steps involved in luring (or milking) the venom from a snake’s mouth. You can sign up to try your hand at skinning a snake, and in true festival form, there’s even a rattlesnake-eating contest.

And then of course there’s the actual snake roundup. Those who want the full experience can register for a guided rattlesnake hunt (or with the proper permits and registration, go it alone). At the end of the weekend, prizes are awarded to the hunters bringing in the longest snake and the heaviest collection of rattlesnakes.

The folks in Sweetwater, a town known the rest of the year for its abundance of wind turbines, know the annual festival is out of the norm—but, they say, that’s precisely why it’s worth seeing, at least once.

When You Go

Drive267miles northwest on I-10 to Hwy. 83 to Hwy. 153

StayIf the weather is mild, pitch a tent or hookup an RV at Lake Sweetwater Campground, lakesweetwater.com

EatSit down for a down home family-style meal with a table full of strangers at Allen Family Style Meals. 325-235-2060